The Shuffler
The Shuffler is an interspatial entity in Watch Dogs 2. It is a Bay Area legend tied to several disappearances. History Before Watch Dogs 2 An unknown amount of time before the events of Watch Dogs 2, the Shuffler legend was conceived in the Bay Area as a creature that lived 'between worlds', and often followed leyline-like paths like railroads to steal people into its dimension for an unknown purpose. A few hundred disappearances around San Francisco can be attributed to this legend, though no concrete evidence ever surfaced until modern times, when four teenagers attempted to film a Shuffler documentary, only to go missing and leave behind a quartet of audio tapes that the SFPD confiscated. Events of Watch Dogs 2 In 2016, Marcus Holloway stumbled upon one of the strange, bloody markings associated with the Shuffler. Upon taking a picture of it, he downloaded an audio message, presumably a copy of one of the audio tapes from the missing Shuffler Four. While T-Bone provides some insight into the legend, Josh is less than amused and seeks to prove that the Shuffler legend is only a myth. After following the trail of the Shuffler graffiti, Marcus was lead to an underpass north of the Umbarcadero Center where he experienced something akin to a hallucination or psychic assault, where upon awakening he was presented with a unique outfit covered in the Shuffler's runes. This outfit gives Marcus an alternative takedown animation, where he crushes an enemy with a flurry of malevolent, crimson symbols and shuffling noises. Appearance The Shuffler does not physically appear in-game, though the game's files indicate it is an in-game entity, verifying that it is to some degree a character. The only hints to its appearance are the bloody graffiti found around the map and the items it seems to 'reward' the protagonist with upon completing the quest. The markings emit an eerie humming sound when approached. Side Quest The Shuffler side quest can only be started after the Swelter Skelter, when the player has T-Bone in their main hackerspace. The glyphs are immediately available in the open world when the player regains control of Marcus after the Swelter Skelter event. The event is unmarked, and doesn't appear in the DedSec App. Strange Graffiti In one of four different locations, the player can find bloody graffiti that when approached emits a disturbing shuffling noise. When looked at in the camera, a notification flashes at the top of the screen, all four graffiti piecing together a sentence. After a picture of it is taken, an audio log will play, depicting a 'lost footage' style recording of one of the Shuffler Four, the teenagers who attempted to record the documentary. When the glyph is viewed in NetHack View, a single symbol will appear that the player should take note of. The glyphs can be found in (listed in order of NetHack Glyphs); *In a box car at Bayview Rise, southeast of downtown San Francisco. The boxcar is at the end of the train tracks with a restricted area neighboring it. *On the side of the cabin east of the small pond north of Oakland, behind the fence. This glyph can be hinted at when hacking an NPC's text conversation after starting the mission, when the NPC mentions that their uncle attended a canoeing club one of the Shuffler Four was a member of. *On a concrete surface along the abandoned train tunnel to the southeast of Oakland. T-Bone provides the hint toward this glyph's location when he brings up the railroad hoppers story. *On a gravestone in the cemetary near Hook Motion Picture Studios. This glyph's location is also hinted when hacking NPC text conversations, when the NPC comments about a recent funeral held for one of the Shuffler Four. These glyphs can be found in any order, but the time code gleaned from them in NetHack View should be assembled in the order listed above. The cipher for the glyphs hangs near Josh's desk, where a time can be deciphered from the four glyphs obtained in NetHack View. Losing Your Damn Mind After translating the time code, the player should sleep on the couch until half an hour before their time to speed the day up to the event. Afterwards, the player should head to the alleyway north of the Umbarcadero Center and the Ferry Building (the path between the two identical gray squares). When the player stands on the ground level under the brick bridge, facing the north wall with their camera out, they will eventually hear an ominous shuffling sound, with '???' appearing at the top of the screen. Taking a picture will cause Marcus to react to the shuffling, a bloody splatter appearing on the wall where the picture was taken. Once the blood splatter is interracted with, Marcus has what seems to be either a hallucination or the Shuffler outright invading his mind. Following the cutscene and a brief conversation between him and Josh were marcus lies to josh saying that this was just a hoax, Marcus is presented with the Shuffler outfit at his feet. Abilities The Shuffler is capable of travelling through, and bringing people and objects into its dimension. Possessing some ability to manipulate physical mass, the Shuffler seems to crush enemies with brutal psychokinetic force. This same ability can be given to Marcus if he has completed the Shuffler side quest and is wearing all pieces of the Shuffler outfit, where Marcus can invoke a swarm of runes that envelope and distort his foes into submission. It can be presumed that this ability is the same ability the Shuffler uses to crush people into its own space. It also can drive people to insanity with its unsettling shuffling sounds. Based on the audio logs recovered from the graffiti, these effects can be theorized to be ultrasonic noise. Trivia *Because of the kind of power Marcus obtains when wearing the full Shuffler outfit, it's certain that the Shuffler is a form of supernatural entity, and is the first appearance of anything of its kind in the Watch Dogs universe. *The bag of the Shuffler outfit appears to be made out of skin, which could be a reference to the Necronomicon, a tome of forbidden knowledge in the lore of H.P. Lovecraft. **This in itself could mean that the Shuffler legend is partially based on the Cthulhu mythos, as the legends share many similarities. **The Shuffler Four having disappeared while attempting to make a Shuffler documentary is a likely reference to the found-footage horror film "The Blair Witch Project". *Marcus is the first individual to have been attacked by the Shuffler and not go missing, and instead be given an outfit that lets him use the Shuffler's abilities. It's possible the Shuffler gifted Marcus the outfit to carry out its will as a sort of disciple. *The graffiti face of the Shuffler looks strikingly similar to the face of "The Guy", the mascot of the band Disturbed. Category:Characters Category:Watch Dogs 2 Category:Characters in Watch Dogs 2 Category:Unseen characters